2018 Inquiry into Legal Practitioners' Scale of Costs
The submission to the Joint Costs Advisory Committee’s (JCAC) 2018 inquiry into the quantum of costs allowable to legal practitioners pursuant to the scales of costs contained in the rules of the participating federal courts was prepared by the Law Council.
The Law Council commends the JCAC’s work in conducting an annual inquiry into the need for changes to the scales of costs. These inquiries provide an opportunity to ensure that parties awarded costs are, as much as possible, not out-of-pocket following resolution of their legal matter. However, there nevertheless remains a generally held view within the legal profession that the scales of recoverable costs are no longer reflective of the actual costs incurred by parties. Additionally, the scales may no longer reflect charging practices and technology within firms.